1 Sorry dude, but it's true. The foam used since the beginning used freon to manufacturer. Gore changed this when he greened the federal government and all their procurements. NASA knew the problem with the new foam not adhering, they flew with it since 1997. Finally the unlucky piece broke off. NASA recently spent $1.5 BILLION in the last two and ahalf years trying to find a better foam that would stick, they got to 10% bond strength of the original, and that's what is on there now. What exasperated the problem was when NASA switched to the new green foam, they also went to a less structurally sound fuel tank to save weight. Less tank weight, more payload that could be carried. The new tank, while not dangerous, flexes much more than the old one, downside, that aides the new foam in popping off. So the green shuttle killed our astronauts. It's not a joke, go to the NASA site you can find all the real data and tests that were run. As recent a one month ago, the engineers told NASA management the foam adherence problem was not fixed -- that's why the sudden seemingly out of the blue, grounding of the fleet.

2 im all for protecting the enviroment from those who would and do grossly abuse the laws but in a case such as the Space Shuttle it should be void...the needs for man to explore space are extremly important and im sure there shouild be ways for NASA to be able to legally be able to use Freon if it is so much more easier to use than other coolants and protective heat shields and foams....its a shame that enviromental nuts are ruining many important discoveries for mankkind

3 Hedgecock was correct on this one. Greens 7, Astronauts 0. The Demos must be very proud of Al Gore. Freon. The best solvent for oil residue ever.

4 I have sex with animals

5 Hydrazine is toxic and the greens didn't stop that.

6 Hydrazine is a wonderful chemical. Great for rocket fuel.

7 thanks for doing the homework.

8 I heard this referenced on Fox News last night. I looked on their website and came up with this article: "Did PC Science Cause Shuttle Disaster?", http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,77832,00.html It's dated Feb. 7, 2003. A different article on foxnews.com on the same subject said that foam flaking had always been a problem, since the beginning of the Shuttle program, but that it had gotten worse after the freon-free foam began to be used. A quote from the article I cite: "The first mission with PC-foam resulted in 11 times more damaged thermal tiles on Columbia than the previous mission with the Freon-based foam. A Dec. 23, 1997, diary entry on the NASA Web site reported: '308 hits were counted during the inspection, 132 were greater than 1-inch. Some of the hits measured 15 inches long, with depths measuring up to 1.5 inches. Considering that the depth of a tile is 2 inches, a 75 percent penetration depth had been reached.' More than 100 tiles were damaged beyond repair, well over the normal count of 40. Flaking PC-foam was the chief suspect." According to the article the EPA granted a waiver to NASA in 2001 to use the freon-based foam, but NASA didn't get around to changing it back.

9 In "WORKING ON A TILE DAMAGE MYSTERY" Greg Katnik analyzes the situatuation quite thoroughly, although I'm not sure if the other "possibilities" he lists for the "problem" are legit or just smoke-screen to take the heat off the foam . http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/katnik.html Also, according to a post by Byron J. Smith: "As an engineer, I have NO PROBLEM designing solutions for CFC-free materials. But that is for NEW DESIGNS! But we are talking about an EXISTING DESIGN -- purposely created and tested with a material to a specific set of mitigated risks. Simple engineering principles -- you NEVER, EVER introduce a material or other UNKNOWN QUANTITY mid-production that could greatly and adversely reduce the mititgated risks in a design. Simply put, testing shows that not only is the reduced tensile strength of the CFC-less materials causing 11x as many breaks -- but more importantly -- prior to their use, there had NEVER been a cut anywhere close to 75% deep in a tile! And with the CFC-less materials, there were DOZENS!" http://www.transterrestrial.com/archives/005538.html (Unfortunately, the simple political expedient of ALWAYS do WHATEVER you can to do the PC thing and keep your job, regardless of it's impact on the life, or death, of those under your command is the rule with many administrators.) Regarding NASA's mind-set, noted Physicist Richard P. Feynman says: "It would appear that, for whatever purpose, be it for internal or external consumption, the management of NASA exaggerates the reliability of its product, to the point of fantasy." And they were a LOT better then, than they are now! http://www.ralentz.com/old/space/feynman-report.html And then there's the problem of attracting, or even keeping, talented individuals. It is made all the more difficult by legislators attempting to micromanage their lives with arbitrary "moral" requirements. Tallented and creative people CAN't and WON't function in such a styffling and self-destructive environment. "The most damaging impact of the procurement integrity law has been in the loss to the agency of key senior technical and managerial officials, many of whom, by virtue of their long tenure with the agency have contributed so dramatically to many of NASA's achievements. Many of these individuals have stated that they are unable to remain with NASA until a planned retirement, and have in fact left federal service early." http://www.nap.edu/books/0309047277/html/84.html Who needs Arab fanatics when we have such dedicated self-decapitating leaders who force the replacement of our best and bightest with beurocratic drones? Now that the latest mission has concluded successfully, those who see the most dangerous aspect of spaceflight as NASA's leadership vacuum must be heaving a really BIG sigh of relief ...for now.

10 Political correctness and junk science are the sad artifacts of the dumbing down of our society in general and the space program in particular, and a testament to why NASA may well implode under its own bureaupoltical weight - sad, because a lot of really smart people have done some amazing things in the past. But then, we are now in an age when "intelligent design" and "global warming" are being used in the same sentence as "science" by our leaders - not a single one of whom I surmise, has even an undergraduate science background. Physical and biological science used to be about the search for truth - now they are becoming nothing more than a pseudo science, like social science - all due to the need for $$ from a sole source - the government. I do not think history will be kind to our generation.